Masonry zero

[Chinneysweep187]

what do you guys think about building a masonry zero clearance fireplace? Building the firebox ,hearth, and smoke chamber and at the top of the smoke chamber it turns into an octagon just big enough to put a class a chimney with anchor plate on and run that straight up.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Sounds like a wood stove would be cheaper, faster, and easier.

 

[Chinneysweep187]

I have a woodstove but would like an open fireplace . I can build the masonry portion in 2-3 days . And class a in 1 more

 

[Chinneysweep187]

And a woodstove is not cheaper than firebrick. And regular brick

 

[bholler]

what do you guys think about building a masonry zero clearance fireplace? Building the firebox ,hearth, and smoke chamber and at the top of the smoke chamber it turns into an octagon just big enough to put a class a chimney with anchor plate on and run that straight up.

How would that be a zero clearance masonry fireplace? There is no rating for that if you are building a masonry fireplace you need to build a fire place to the specs and clearances of any other masonry fireplace. From the smoke chamber up if you want to use class a go right ahead it is not very common but it is not unheard of i have done it a couple times. But large size class a is pretty expensive.

 

[ccmac]

Yea it's not really a zero clearance it's a masonry fireplace without a masonry flue. I like it! I say go for it and enjoy. Nothing like an open fire in the house, I just love. Oddly enough I fell in love with open fireplaces in Tucson, Arizona!! Ha HA! Pretty funny when I think about it, but it did get cold at night there. I live in Indiana now. I have a wood stove on our lower level (walkout basement) and fireplace on main level. Best of both worlds! Keep us posted.

 

[bholler]

Arizona would be a good place for an open fire place seeing as you usually don't need much heat lol.

 

[begreen]

If it's just for ambience it seems like the job might be easier and more proper to pick up a cheap 36" ZC that doesn't require class A and throw a brick veneer on it.

http://www.efireplacestore.com/wood-burning-fireplaces.html

 

[ccmac]

Actually our fireplaces have heated nicely. Not as efficient as the woodstove but a lot better than most people.......... experts included, would like to give credit for. Not sure when or why fireplaces fell out of vogue with many folks? Sometimes, those most critical of fireplaces are most ignorant of them or their past experiences were with very poorly built ones. Not saying that is the case with any on here, just what I have experienced with the folks I run with.

 

[begreen]

Fireplaces deliver radiant heat when burning and some from the masonry afterward. They use a lot of wood to do this so that even though they can radiantly heat ok when burning, they are very inefficient, wasting a lot of heat up the chimney and sucking heat out of the house as the fireplace cools down. The net gain is poor and the pollution factor is high, about 28 times that of a certified EPA stove or worse.

 

[webby3650]

They also suck about 200 cubic feet of heated air out of your house every minute while in operation! So it's emptying a good size room of conditioned air every few minutes. Definitely not an efficient way to heat..
That being said, I love mine! It's no heater though.

 

[ccmac]

I actually had the mason put a 4 inch fresh air intake in my fireplace. If you look at my pic you will see it on the right side of the firebox. It is steel and once it leaves the masonry it converts to PVC. I actually have a large PVC valve in the utility room below that I can open and close air to the fireplace. Not sure if my way was the best way to do this but it works and it was done in an effort to improve efficiency and function in a very tightly built house.

 

[begreen]

According to John Gulland a 4" pipe is only going to supply a small fraction of the air used by an open fireplace.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-homes/high-efficiency-fireplace-zmaz03onzgoe.aspx?PageId=1

 

[bholler]

Yes 4" will if it is a 12 by 12 flue barley supply 1/10 the needed air for that fire place and that is only if that inlet is the path of least resistance. Many times they do nothing at all because of all of the elbows in the pipe there is so much resistance that it just pulls from the rest of the house anyway. I am not anti open fireplace at all but it is not a heater at all the well designed and built ones only contribute a small amount of heat to the house and many have a net loss

 

[Chinneysweep187]

Mine will be a Chris prior fireplace which generates a lot more heat than the standard 10-15% fireplace but not as much as a stove obviously but like I said I already have one

 

[bholler]

Mine will be a Chris prior fireplace which generates a lot more heat than the standard 10-15% fireplace but not as much as a stove obviously but like I said I already have one

Yeah a Prior Fire is definitely more efficient than most but still pretty inefficient. And yes even chris will admit that if you talk to him for a while. But hey if you want to do it go right ahead as far as fireplaces go it is about the best design out there but it is not a zeroclearance fireplace in any way whatsoever. I personally can see putting the effort and money into building one and then the effort of cutting splitting and drying the wood for it unless i am going to get some serious heat out of it.